NBA Awards

With the NBA regular season ending tonight, I thought it was an appropriate time to hand out the first annual TheBostonInsider NBA Awards. A note to all winners, the trophies are in the mail. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR CANDIDATES: Derrick Rose, Bulls; Brook Lopez, Nets; O.J. Mayo, Grizzlies; Kevin Love, Timberwolves; Russell Westbrook, Thunder SKINNY: Rose has been the guiding light for a Bulls team that could pull the rug out from under Dwight Howard and the Magic in the first round of the playoffs. Rose scored 16.8 points and handed out 6.3 assists (with an impressive 2.5-to-1 assist to turnover ration) playing the toughest position in the NBA for young players. Lopez averaged a solid 13.1 points and 8.1 rebounds. Mayo can score (18.4) but he is not a great decision maker (1.2-to-1 assist to turnover ratio). Love and Westbrook are at the back end of a very good rookie class. WINNER: Derrick Rose COACH OF THE YEAR CANDIDATES: Erik Spoelstra, Heat; Doc Rivers, Celtics; Phil Jackson, Lakers; Mike Brown, Cavaliers; Jerry Sloan, Jazz; Stan Van Gundy, Magic SKINNY: Spoelstra took over a 15-win team from Pat Riley but he also inherited a fully healthy Dwayne Wade, who was hell bent on proving the last two years were abberations, and two very good rookies in Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers. Rivers guided the Celtics to another 60-win season, in spite of injuries to Kevin Garnett, Leon Powe, and Rajon Rondo (amongst others). Rivers gets bonus points for creating a spot for Stephon Marbury. Jackson has always struck me as sort of a phony but he has to get credit for getting the Lakers to bounce back from their horrible loss to the Celtics in the '08 Finals. Brown led the Cavs to their best ever season. It is a travesty that Sloan doesn't have like eight Red Auerbach trophies. Van Gundy is one of my personal favorites. WINNER: Doc Rivers DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR CANDIDATES: Kobe Bryant, Lakers; LeBron James, Cavaliers; Dwight Howard, Magic; Kendrick Perkins, Celtics; Ron Artest, Rockets SKINNY: Bryant has done the impossible. He realized he had a talented but very soft front court and decided to bring the toughness to his team from the wing on a nightly basis. As much as he is hated, Bryant is up there with Jordan (and LeBron) as the best two-way players who ever laced up a pair of hightops. James is such a freak defensively that he can cover a quick point guard like Rondo one night to banging bodies inside the next. Howard is the anchor of a weak Magic defense and after watching him closely the last few weeks, he is susceptible to helping too much on penetration, allowing a dump off pass leading to easy points (a main reason why I think the Bulls and Rose will pull off the upset). Perkins has transformed himself into a lesser known but more talented inside presence than Howard. Artest is a force but he loses points because he gets to play alongside Shane Battier, a fine defenisve forward in his own right. WINNER: Kobe Bryant MOST IMPROVED PLAYER CANDIDATES: Rajon Rondo, Celtics; Devin Harris, Nets; Danny Granger, Pacers; Chris Anderson, Nuggets; Mo Williams, Cavaliers SKINNY: Rondo has evolved so much in his three years. He went from athletic freak who made some exciting playes as a rookie to a steady point guard capable of the amazing in his sophomore season to irreplaceable floor general on a team looking to repeat as champion. Harris is never gone to be Jason Kidd but the Mavericks will never forgive themselves for trading Harris for Kidd. Granger (25.7 points, 5 rebounds, 2.7 assists) is developing into a star in the relative obscurity of Indiana. I still have daydreams that Granger fell to the Celtics in the 2005 Draft instead of Gerald Green. Anderson bounced back from a serious drug problem to give Denver a real interior presence off the bench. Williams was already a very good player before going to the Cavs last summer but he has fit his game to flow with LeBron James and has made the Cavs into a legitimate championship contender. WINNER: Devin Harris SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR CANDIDATES: Jason Terry, Mavericks; Nate Robinson, Knicks; Travis Outlaw, Blazers; Lamar Odom, Lakers; Flip Murray, Hawks SKINNY: Terry's 19.5 points almost his matched his career high in scoring average that he set back in the 2000-2001 season. He has been invaluable to the Mavs, providing an offenisve spark off the bench. Robinson is scoring (career high 17.3) but the Knicks suck and I don't care too much about big scorers on bad teams. Outlaw has been a part of an impressive Blazers squad. Odom is in the perfect role for him with the Lakers; he can fill in anywhere on the frontline and there is almost no pressure on him because of Kobe, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum. Too bad (for him) that he'll probably leave for more money and more minutes as a free agent. Murray gives the Hawks 12 points off the bench each night. WINNER: Jason Terry MVP CANDIDATES: Kobe Bryant, Lakers; LeBron James, Cavaliers; Paul Pierce, Celtics; Dwayne Wade, Heat; Brandon Roy, Blazers SKINNY: This will be one of the hardest years to pick the MVP. Kobe, LeBron, and D-Wade have been unreal. I could list pages of statistics to make their cases but that is unneccessary. All three have hit heights that I always thought were reserved only for Jordan. Pierce and Roy make my list over Dwight Howard and Chris Paul because they have carried their teams to better records than they should have. The C's suffered through too many injuries to be a 60-win team and the Blazers looked to be too young to make the playoffs but Pierce and Roy wouldn't let their respective teams lose. WINNER: LeBron James